


Spicy or Mild

by JazzRaft



Series: kitchen disasters [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Multi, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-24 01:23:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20017954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzRaft/pseuds/JazzRaft
Summary: When it comes to his dinner, Noct's always been picky. When it comes to his boyfriends, there's no way he could choose.





	Spicy or Mild

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aithilin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aithilin/gifts).



> A [tumblr prompt fill](https://jazzraft.tumblr.com/post/186545674802/ignyxnoct-ever-heard-of-seasoning) from a list of [kitchen disasters](https://jazzraft.tumblr.com/post/186452779569/kitchen-disasters)! This one's for [aithilin](https://aithilin.tumblr.com/)! <3

“Ever heard of seasoning?”

“Ever heard of moderation?”

“Never in polite company!” Nyx gasped, in a parody of hyper-sensitive high society.

“It’s not an obscenity,” Ignis sighed, pinching beneath the bridge of his glasses.

“It might as well be.”

Noctis snorted as he wove between the battle lines drawn across his kitchen (well, it was _Iggy’s_ kitchen, though it was in _Noct’s_ apartment). He quickly cut over to the refrigerator to retrieve a snack, in spite of Iggy’s scorn.

“You’ll spoil your dinner,” he said.

“At the rate you’re going, this _is_ dinner.”

Noctis waved the small box of supermarket sushi like a white flag to earn him safe passage back out of the warzone before his boyfriends resumed fire.

Once every weekend, this was the regular landscape of the kitchen, where Noctis had all-but demanded that Nyx and Ignis try to cook together. They traded off every other day of the week, depending on Nyx’s hours with the guard rotation, or Iggy’s delays at his Citadel office, or Noct’s own last minute crunches over economy reports his father urged him to study.

Some days, Ignis cooked; other days, Nyx cooked; and some days, they all just bickered over what to order for take-out when they were all too weary to pick up a spatula. On rare occasions, Noctis would challenge his own culinary capacities and venture into the kitchen himself, when both Ignis and Nyx came home with a stoop to their shoulders and a yawn on their lips. But no matter what, once a week, when the collars of their respective roles loosened for a day, they attempted to tackle a meal together.

The arguments over it were practically tradition by now. It wasn’t fusion night if Ignis and Nyx weren’t brandishing wooden spoons at each other like two fencers ready to duel.

“Which one would you rather have, Noct?” Nyx asked, not taking his glare off of Ignis. “Spicy or mild?”

“That’d be like choosing between you two. Didn’t happen then, ain’t happening now.”

“Coward,” Nyx grumbled.

“Says the man reaping the benefits.”

Nyx spared Noct a glance just quick enough to catch his coy little wink before resuming his long-suffering stare-down with his counterpart in cuisine. Ignis drummed his fingers against the countertop, just shy of the pot simmering with the curry that had caused so much controversy.

It was always at the last possible second that the point of contention pricked the amiable cloud of conversation that perfumed the kitchen just as strongly as the smell of the food itself. It always happened right when the aroma of whatever the two were cooking was becoming torture for Noctis. His stomach growled in forlorn desperation just imagining what the concoction would taste like. The table was set, the kitchenware clean, and the apartment smelled like curry paste and coconut milk.

It was sweet and spicy and sumptuous – and half of the time Noctis didn’t know if his tastes were yearning for the food or the cooks preparing it.

“I suppose,” Ignis started, words tight with concession, “we could meet in the middle for medium heat?”

Nyx released a long sigh through his nose, not unlike a bull stepping down from a charge. “I guess we could make that work. Needs the right balance, though.”

“How about you pick the appropriate spices and I’ll approximate the right amounts.”

Noctis perched on a stool, taking deliberately small nibbles of his sushi as the steam between the two men started to dissipate. Wouldn’t be much longer before dinner was served, now that the olive branch was thrown into the recipe. He watched the two of them work, like an aficionado in an art museum, paying special admiration to the details that had inspired him to put forth this weekly challenge in the first place.

Nyx’s inked fingertips, painted in an array of spice stains as he threw neatness to the wind and let the grains fall through his fingers like sand, was one. Reds and oranges and yellows, like the colors of the sunset, coated his dark skin as he sprinkled them into the pot.

Iggy’s rolled up sleeves, baring smooth arms that sliced and sorted through pots and pans as cleanly as any knife, was another. He moved like a flash of steel, elegant and precise, making forks and spoons and knives alike an extension of his own body.

They could not be more different, yet Noctis loved them both for that. He loved them even more when they worked together, willing to cross the boundaries that set them apart to create a new and unique whole.

Noctis smiled, softly, watching their hands trade off ingredients and instruments over the pot between them. Nyx’s rough hands scraped Iggy’s every so often with yellow tendrils of turmeric, and Iggy’s smooth fingers cleared careful marks through the curry powder on Nyx’s.

It was the balance that Noct thought was beautiful. It made all of the biting remarks made to get there worth bearing.

“Alright, you little tyrant, you get to taste-test,” Nyx announced when the curry was finally finished, passing one of Iggy’s artfully arranged bowls to the prince.

“This ‘tyrant’ can have you tried for treason if it burns my tongue.”

“Your tastes are the true terror,” Ignis sighed, decades of catering to his picky parameters weighing in his voice.

Noctis let it pass – like the diplomatic tyrant he was – and eagerly spooned up a helping of fluffy rice and red curry. It was perfect, just like he knew it would be, once their two worlds of expertise came together. The first slip of the spoon across his tongue was smooth and sweet, then punctuated by a subtle punch of spice that lingered in order to lead in the next mouthful. It was an even trade-off of taste in every bite – and so worth the angry riot of his empty stomach for waiting.

“You sure you two aren’t willing to do this twice a week?”

Nyx and Ignis both rolled their eyes, matching each other perfectly – and without a single hint of conflict – only in their fondness for Noct. They each pressed a kiss on either side of his face – one for each cheek – one side coarse and warm; the other, cool and careful. But it was only one feeling left in Noct’s heart, and there was more than enough to share with the both of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Cooking with these three is so indulgent :') I hope you enjoy them together as much as I do!


End file.
